I made it to the class in record time. I was getting more and more skeptical of this whole "maze" reputation of the castle. The buzz of chittering died down when I entered. I assumed my seat near Tracey. I wanted to hide somewhere as the stares of my classmates burned in my back.

  "Are you okay?" she asked. "You aren't hurt, right?"

  It was a bit embarrassing to admit, but it warmed my chest that those were the first words out of her mouth.

  "No, not at all. Just a bit out of energy." And I was already getting better. I had good cardio, after all. Uncomfortable with the attention, I asked, "What about you? How is it going? Did you manage to change your match...?"

  She sighed and took her hand off the table to reveal an untouched match. "Would you believe me if I told you I changed it into a nail and back?" she asked with a humorous smile.

  I smiled back. "Don't worry, you'll get it."

  Her lips retreated down to a sull. "I hope... Well, it's not like I'm the only one who couldn't do it, heck, it's the opposite." She looked at me with something I couldn't quite place in her eyes.

  I hoped it was something positive. Admiration, maybe. I wanted to tell her, No, I'm not special either. It's just this creature wormed up in my brain, but I couldn't.

  McGonagall wasn't lax enough to keep the class headless any more, and she arrived to silence the hushed conversations the students were having.

  In the end, no one did anything to their matches, nada, zilch, and McGonagall set us off with a few words of affirmation and encouragement.

  "Don't you worry. This is just the beginning. Once you get your hand used to casting, you'll be suprised how easy you find spells like this!"

  I didn't know what everyone thought of me after all this, but I needed her words as much as they did.

  That weird shape that my match turned into? It hadn't felt like mine.

  I realized, with a jolt, in this world where the source of paranormality wasn't passengers, I wanted my achievements to belong to me, and not to my passenger.

  A troubling thought.

  The paths to Hufflepuff and Slytherin classes on the two opposite sides of the corridor. "You go ahead," I told Tracey.

  "Uh, what're you gonna do?"

  "I wanna get to know them," I said, pointing at the members of the other house.

  "Suure," she said, hitting me with a raised brow. "You won't get lost?"

  "I won't. I don't think it's all that hard to find your way around here, despite how everyone's been acting."

  She shook her head, bemused. "All right. The next class is... Herbology. I'll save you a spot near me."

  I beamed. "Thanks!"

  She couldn't help but smile back. "My pleasure. See ya, then."

  "Bye-bye."

  She hurried behind the rest of the Slytherins, some of which were giving me confused looks over their shoulders.

  I turned back and and caught up to the Hufflepuff crowd, stopping their advance with a loud, "Hey!"

  They stopped to look at me. Okay, it was a bit awkward approaching this many people.

  "...Hello...? I'm Taylor."

  The clique at the front resumed walking, and the rest followed, though they started introducing themselves.

  "My name is Susan."

  "I'm Ernie."

  "Justin Finch-Fletchley here!"

  "Hannah Abbott."

  "They call me Megan Jones!"

  Everyone shot weird looks at the last girl.

  "What?"

  "I, uh, what's, um, how do you find Hogwarts like?" I tried to ask, cringing. Gosh, this was going terrible. I should have went after someone standing around alone.

  "It's fine." that was Susan. "As expected."

  "Come on, it's great!" said Ernie. "Much cooler than I expected."

  "I like it, but the courses are a little intimidating," said Hannah Abbott.

  "It's my first time staying away from home," Megan nearly shouted. She seemed to be a loud person. "Exciting!"

  "You mean terrifying," one of the boys walking in the front interjected. "Name's Wayne Hopkins, by the way. You're a Slytherin, aren't you? Why are you coming this way?"

  The tone was neutral, but the content was slightly accusative, making me stumble in my words. "I, um, I wanted to," make friends.

  "Wait, don't I know you?" Justin exclaimed. Huh?

  "Is it because you are both muggleborns?" someone said.

  "Dude, there are millions upon millions of muggles. No."

  "Wait, you're muggleborn? In Slytherin?" Hannah asked me.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  I nodded. "Yep." I was glad Wayne's question got lost in that moment of chaos.

  "You didn't know? We talked about- um, forget that," Justin stopped what he was saying to Hannah, looking sheepish. "Forget that."

  That was all right by me. "Where do you know me from?"

  "Uh, my brother was in the last year's athletics meet-up," he explained. "Aren't you the girl who won the province in judo?"

  Ah, that. There were various sports meet-ups every year for British students. I liked to participate in track, judo and exercise competitions like push-ups. Having the trained nervous system of a soldier, the disclipline to exercise everyday as a ten year old, and being at the age where my male peers hadn't hit puberty yet, I stood out.

  Of course, having a single arm was a major setback, but at this level? I could cope.

  "Yeah, that's me!" I was happy to find something to talk about.

  "Oh my god, small world. You are super strong! You beat my bro with ease! And no one could match her number in push-ups with two arms!" Justin launched with excitement. I didn't necessarily like my arm being brought up, but I was used at this point, and I was mature about it, hmph. Plus, the topic demanded it. But I wasn't happy about it turning into a hot topic around here. He turned to his housemates, speaking animatedly. "She is faster than anyone our age!"

  "What's judo?" Susan asked as Ernie said, "Faster than me? I doubt that." I guess it could be identified who was a muggleborn or atleast a half-blood with their reaction to that. Kids who grew up in the magical world.

  "Wanna bet on that?" I taunted Ernie playfully.

  "Bet? Noo, that's illegal," he replied with a smirk. "But when we have the time, let's race."

  I gave him a look over. I'd leave him in the dust, no doubt. "Sure."

  "What's judo?" Susan asked again. "Guys?"

  "It's a form of wrestling," I explained. "From Japan. It's mostly trying to get your opponent to drop to the ground."

  She frowned. "Sounds horrible." The others gave nods and murmurs of affirmation. "What's a push-up?"

  Magical kids didn't even know that? "Well, it's a form of exercise targeting the chest, shoulders and arms. Meaning that the more you do it, the stronger the muscles in those places get."

  "How do you do it?"

  "You put your hands to the ground. Keep your arms, feet, stomach tight and firm, not bending any joints. Your back's a straight line, you're on your toes. Then you go down until your chest touches the ground, then you go back up, but no cheating by bending your knees or dropping your chest."

  "Seems complicated," she said, and I could see the others thinking the same.

  Time for a demonstration, then.

  "Watch."

  I dropped down and gave one, two, three push-ups, fast. These had gotten disgustingly easy. I felt it was the suddenness of my movement more than anything else that prompted the sounds of suprise from them.

  "Do the handstand, the handstand!" Justin said. Damn, was he my fan or what?

  All righty. I rose back up, took my robe off. I crouched, felt the ground under my palm.

  Then I was upside down, looking at their legs.

  These stuff weren't even that hard. It was more about balance and being used to the position than strength.

  "Woaw, I didn't know a human could even do that," Susan whispered.

  One by one, they started clapping. My face grew red and hot. I decided against doing a handstand one-armed push-up, I wouldn't be able to endure any more reactions.

  Jumping back on my legs, I got my robe and glasses from Wayne, who had ended up holding onto them.

  For a moment, we just started at one another, the Hufflepuff group and I.

  "That was cool, Taylor," Hannah said.

  "Agreed."

  "Yep.

  "What did I tell you!" Justin. "She's great."

  "Nice show, commando," said Megan. Did she have muggle background as well? "But we really need to go now. We won't be able to reach our class in time if we wait around any longer. It was nice to meet you." She gave her hand and I shook it. I moved to repeat that with the others, but there were really too much of them for that, and I awkwardly settled for exchanging nods and words.

  They went on, and I stood there, staring after them.

  "..."

  I spun on my heel and power-walked through the corridor. I didn't have much time to reach my own class, either.

  There would be plenty of time to see them around.